


Reparations

by Carrogath



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-02 17:11:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2819897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrogath/pseuds/Carrogath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra, Asami, a vacation gone wrong, and the unlikeliest rumormongers in existence.</p><p>How it could have happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Revelations

Asami’s office looks even more cluttered than usual, nowadays. It’s a miracle the building survived, given that Kuvira’s giant mech tore through the financial district—at least twenty city blocks, with damage in farther parts of the city due to the mech’s attached laser gun. Repair work will run them into the tens of millions of yuan, not including the additional damage to city streets and the organizational headache that is returning everyone safely home. Korra’s certain that all of the foot-thick reports and scattered pieces of paper have to do with Kuvira’s rampage; she can still see hummingbird blueprints pinned to corkboards on the wall, sketches of their anatomy and details of articulating mechanical parts. A few stray files have made their home on the floor. She takes care not to slip on them as she walks in.

Asami is on the phone. “—Raiko, I respectfully request that you leave this issue for another time; my father’s funeral was yesterday, and I have no intentions on returning to work until—look, I picked up because you said this was urgent, and I’m telling you now, clearing the rubble has been our first priority from the start. Kuvira’s whole intent was probably to disrupt business…”  
  
She doesn’t notice her, so Korra waits.  
  
“…Wu has plans to draw up a new constitution, of course investors would be nervous—ugh! That’s not the point of this conversation. You were the one who was so against her from the start; why are you complaining now? You understand that we have our own finances to deal with, don’t you? I’m doing as much as I can right now. Don’t expect us to just do all of your work for you! President Raiko? Hello…?” A groan. She slaps the phone back onto its base. “Oh, Korra.” Surprise registers on her face, and then recognition, and then she laughs. “I’m sorry you had to hear all of that.”  
  
“It’s all right. It didn’t sound like you had much of a choice.”  
  
She brushes her bangs back. “It’s like I never run out of things to do in this city.”  
  
“You’ve been doing… more than I have, honestly,” she says, rubbing her upper arm. “In spite of everything.”  
  
“It’s not a sign of strength,” she mumbles. “I’ve been dealing with grief in the only way I know how.”  
  
“Are you…” It’s a stupid question to ask. “Are you all right?”  
  
“I’ve been better.”  
  
She starts shuffling papers around on her desk. Korra picks up the papers on the floor by hand—she considers airbending them for a moment until she realizes it would just make everything worse—and hands them to her.  
  
“Thanks.” She looks worn.  
  
Korra notices something on her desk, a ceramic cup of some sort, but it’s too small to be a tea cup. “Wait.”  
  
Asami looks up at her, and then down at her desk, but she doesn’t seem to see it.  
  
“Have you been drinking?” She is old enough to drink, granted.  
  
“Why? Do you want some?”  
  
“Wh-what? No! I just… Really, are you all right to travel like this? You’ve been kind of… You’ve always been,” Korra makes futile motions with her hands, “you know…”  
  
Asami shakes her head. “Been what?”  
  
“Stressed out.”  
  
“Oh.” She looks away, embarrassed for whatever reason. “I guess so.”  
  
“I…” she struggles with her words, “I don’t want to take you into the Spirit World if you’re not… There are places there that are…”  
  
“Dangerous?”  
  
“Yeah,” she finishes lamely. “If you don’t pay attention, something bad could happen.”  
  
“It’s never stopped me before.”  
  
She’s right. “Still. It’s different now. And the work’s going to keep piling up when you come back. I want this to be—you know, a nice vacation.”  
  
She frowns. Korra starts to panic a little. “Are you saying that I shouldn’t go?”  
  
“No, not at all! But, you know, you just act so tough, sometimes I wonder when you’re going to run out of steam.” Her shoulders slump. “Mako noticed it too.” Not Bolin, he’s too oblivious to things like that. “You keep pushing yourself like this and one day it’s gonna blow up in your face.”  
  
She can’t read Asami’s face and it hurts. She smiles. Damn. Not the reaction she wanted. “I appreciate your concern, but—”  
  
“You’re not OK.”  
  
“I’m not OK,” she says. “I know.” She really is a tough nut to crack. “But you have bigger things to—”  
  
“No, I don’t. I might be the Avatar, but I’m going with you on this trip too, remember! Being the Avatar doesn’t mean anything if I can’t even help one of my best friends.”  
  
Her brow creases, and she smiles, looking all kinds of reluctant. “It’s… nothing, really.”  
  
“Oh, so your dad dying is nothing?”  
  
She glares at her, and then the glare softens. Korra wants to earthbend through the wall; this is so frustrating. “I’m…” She runs a hand over her face. “I don’t think this is something you can help me with.” Not that she could blame her, but still!  
  
“Look, if we’re going to do the whole friendship thing, you’re going to have to talk. I know I might not have been able to help you much in the past, but times have changed.”  
  
“Korra, there’s really nothing to talk about.”  
  
“But—!”  
  
“You’ve changed. You’re right. I get that. You’re a lot less reckless than you have been. Still…”  
  
“Do you even get what friendship means? I mean, yeah, we might be a few years apart,” she mumbles, “and you might be better at dealing with all your responsibilities, but don’t act like you’re in any better control of your life than I am of mine.”  
  
She covers her hand with her face. Oh, Spirits, finally. “Korra…”  
  
“How much did you drink?”  
  
“Just a little here and there. It’s a normal thing to do.”  
  
“How much sleep have you been getting?”  
  
“…Maybe four hours a night. I drink coffee to get through the day.”  
  
“And how many all-nighters have you pulled in the last two weeks?”  
  
“Five. First was right after Kuvira was taken into custody. We had to clear up the roads so we could disassemble the giant robot.”  
  
“And the rest?”  
  
“When I had the energy to. Most of the time I just fall asleep working at my desk.”  
  
“Asami!”  
  
“I know, I’m a wreck.”  
  
It’s hard to stay angry at her, somehow.  
  
“Why don’t you take any breaks?”  
  
“I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. And now that Dad’s gone…” It’s impressive, the fact that she doesn’t choke up or cry. “Now I really don’t know what to do.”

Really, what else has she been doing? Korra can’t even think of a time when she wasn’t waist-deep in some kind of mechanical or financial work. It’s almost uncanny. Did she even take vacations? Wasn’t this bad for your health? How hadn’t she snapped yet? Maybe she was just hiding it? She’s a slippery person at the best of times; she’s got the “overly polite rich girl” persona so down pat it feels like there’s practically nothing behind it…  
  
“Who are you, really?”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
Korra slaps a hand over her mouth. She wasn’t supposed to hear that. “I mean, uh, who was calling?”  
  
“That was President Raiko. He was asking why there were still blockages in the road. Even with earthbenders on every corner, it still takes a while to transport the rubble off-site. You’d think after so many attacks on Republic City, he would have figured that already…”  
  
She laughs nervously, but it’s really bothering her now. “Say, Asami.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“What do you do for fun?”  
  
“Me?” It doesn’t seem like a question she gets asked a lot. Asami? Having _fun_? “I, um… I haven’t really had the time,” she says, sheepishly.  
  
“Seriously?”  
  
“I used to go see plays with my father… Street racing when he wasn’t around… That was back when I wasn’t running the company, though.”  
  
Street racing, huh? She could see it.  
  
“What else?”  
  
“I read. You know, when I don’t have too much of a headache.”  
  
“Too much?”  
  
“It’s funny; I go to parties and social functions, charity events—things like that—but I don’t really have a lot of friends… It’s hard for me to make them, I guess, when I’m so involved with my work. The closest people to me are my employees, my business partners… and you guys.” Asami looks at her and smiles.  
  
“That’s… nice to hear, I guess,” she says, for a lack of anything better. “I, uh… I really care about you too.”  
  
“That’s good to know.”  
  
The atmosphere is awkward. Korra scuffs the floor with her boot. “So, um. About the trip. Have you…” she holds her hands out, “figured out when you can go?”  
  
“Right. Before that, I have a few questions.”  
  
“Shoot.”  
  
“Where are we going in the Spirit World, exactly?”  
  
She laughs nervously. “That… I can’t really say.”  
  
“And how are we going back?”  
  
“We just… do?”  
  
Crap. They had been so excited for it, too…  
  
“Korra.”  
  
“I know, I’m sorry! The Spirit World isn’t like our world. Things just kind of… happen, there. But I’m the Avatar, so everything should turn out all right.”  
  
Asami raises an eyebrow. “So I should trust you because you’re the Avatar, huh?”  
  
“Y-yeah,” she says, grinning, “totally!”  
  
“Don’t make me remind you of how many screw-ups you’ve made over the past four years.”  
  
“But look! I’m way better now. Nothing bad’s going to happen to us. Swear on my life.”  
  
“When do we leave?”  
  
“Whenever… we want to leave.”  
  
“You mean, ‘whenever we’re allowed to leave’?”  
  
“Yes! I mean, no! No. I’m sure the spirits will guide us out when we’re ready to go.”  
  
“Because you’re the Avatar.”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
Asami sighs. “That’s not exactly a compelling argument, you know.”  
  
“I know, but it’s all I’ve got. Besides, it isn’t fun if you already know what’s going to happen.”  
  
“I guess…”  
  
“Plus, it’s a vacation. You won’t have anyone calling you and complaining about your work, and you won’t have any investors to deal with or anything like that. It’ll be good for you.” She sets her hands on her hips.  
  
“What are we going to do, then?”  
  
She shrugs. “Go on a journey of self-discovery and personal fulfillment?”  
  
“I’m not sure if I have anything left to discover about myself.”  
  
“You never know! At least you’ll get to talk to spirits, and stuff. It’ll be interesting. Promise.”  
  
“You look more excited about this vacation than I am, even though you’ve been there before.”  
  
“Because you’re seeing it for the first time! And I’ll get to show you around, if we end up somewhere familiar. And, it’s, I don’t know… I guess because we’ve never done anything like this before. It’ll be an adventure—just without any bad guys.”  
  
Asami picks up one of the papers sitting on her desk and examines it.  
  
“Oh, come on. You trust me, don’t you? Maybe the Avatar excuse doesn’t work on you anymore, but as a person, at least?”  
  
“Maybe…” She doesn’t take her eyes off the paper. Korra feels like she’s getting messed with.  
  
“Nothing bad’s going to happen, at least. We’re not really there to do anything other than look around.” She pauses. “It’s not _me_ you’re having second thoughts about… is it?”  
  
Asami leers at her.  
  
She’s never made that expression at her before.  
  
“Asami?”  
  
“Sorry,” she says, and puts the paper down. “It’s weird, isn’t it?”  
  
“What’s weird?”  
  
“Our friendship, I mean. Our ‘friendship,’” she says again, facetiously. “I heard you when you asked me who I was.”  
  
“Oh,” she says, embarrassed.  
  
“You’re right. You don’t know that much about me. I’ve been pushing you along, trying to get you to open up, without giving you any room to breathe. I’ve been…” She runs a hand through her hair. “I’ve been forcing it on you, I think.”  
  
“Wh… What? No, not at all. I never saw it that way.”  
  
“But Korra, you don’t know anything about me. Do you even know when my birthday is?”  
  
“Of course I do! It’s, um… Wait, no, that Tenzin’s birthday… I know! No, that’s Bolin’s… Mako’s?” Korra frowns. “I… I guess I don’t.”  
  
“Or my favorite food?”  
  
“Of course! That’s steamed b—never mind, that was Bolin’s.” Damn it, how come she knew everything about Bolin and not about her?  
  
“My favorite car model?”  
  
“The Satomobile?”  
  
“Which one?”  
  
“Darn!”  
  
“What about my favorite designer?”  
  
“Why would I know that?”  
  
“You would know if I told you.”  
  
“Oh…” Korra looks away. “So… Are we… not friends?”  
  
“Not as close as you’d think. And you were so receptive to it, too, I thought you’d never notice…”  
  
“But does it really matter? I still like you.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Because you’ve always been there for me.”  
  
“But have you ever thought about why?”  
  
“Because we’re friends?”  
  
“But why are we friends?”  
  
“Because of Mako… and then the thing with your dad… And then…” She makes a face. “Come to think of it, we weren’t all that friendly until Mako and I broke up.”  
  
“And that was right around Harmonic Convergence. Spirit vines started growing all over Republic City; I had to rebuild my company practically from scratch; then the whole thing with the Air Nation getting revived and the Red Lotus murdering the Earth Queen…”  
  
“And then I got poisoned and disappeared for three years.” She laughs awkwardly. “Heh. I know I apologized for that already, but… That’s not much of a friendship when you put it that way, huh? But that’s OK,” she insists. “We can start fresh. We don’t have to be the best of friends right off the bat.”  
  
“Right.”  
  
“I’m sorry for not noticing all these things earlier.”  
  
“I don’t think you could’ve, considering what happened.”  
  
“Yeah, but that still isn’t an excuse… I mean, instead of grousing my butt off about every little thing, I could’ve been helping you with your problems! You’ve always been so nice to me; even if it’s because I’m the Avatar or whatever, it still counts.” She frowns. “Don’t tell me… You were faking that, too?”  
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“I don’t know… how I feel,” she says. “I didn’t even do it because you were the Avatar. I wasn’t really into spirituality, or anything like that; the most I had to learn from you was how to counter benders, and I already picked up most of that from my father. Equalist moves, you know…”  
  
“Then why?”  
  
“I don’t know, because you were there?”  
  
“Ouch.”  
  
“Sorry.” She looks frustrated. “Mako was sweet, but he was such an idiot. And then he didn’t even tell me he was into you!” She groans. “It was weird, trying to reach out to you after all of that, but you didn’t think there was anything off about it at all.”  
  
“No! I mean, we’re both so busy—all of us are so busy—we never really have the time to go out and make friends… I thought it made sense. Besides, it wasn’t your fault he cheated on me.”  
  
“It was.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“I kissed him first.”  
  
“He didn’t have to kiss you back, though.”  
  
“I guess not.” She sighs. “What a bastard.”  
  
“But if you hadn’t run into him, we never would have met in the first place.”  
  
“Korra, the first time we met, you hated me.”  
  
“Well, I don’t hate you now!”  
  
There’s an awkward pause in the conversation.  
  
“I, I don’t,” Korra mumbles. She hadn’t realized how uncomfortable it must have been for Asami to try and make friends with her. “We both think he’s kind of a loser, so, you know…” She shrugs. “We bonded over the same terrible ex-boyfriend.”  
  
“It sounds wrong when you put it that way.”  
  
“There’s nothing wrong about it!” Korra exhales. “Is that what you were upset over? The fact that we went out with the same guy? It doesn’t matter anymore. When you’re ready to start dating again, just—just double-check and make sure he’s not two-timing you.”  
  
“Honestly I haven’t had a date since I stopped seeing him.”  
  
“That’s fine. Just take your time.”  
  
“I’m not sure if I _want_ a date after him.”  
  
“Asami? Why not?”  
  
“Nothing.” She stands up and starts to pack her things.  
  
“Asami? Hey!”  
  
Korra follows her out of her office and into the street. They’re walking—she doesn’t know where—and Asami is carrying her suitcase. The city is half-destroyed and half-repopulated, a bizarre amalgam of wreckage and commerce. Asami just looks like she wants to avoid her.  
  
“Asami, what’s wrong?”  
  
“Don’t act like him.”  
  
“I’m not acting like him!” She totally is. “You’re the one who clamped up. I just want to know what got you so upset.”  
  
“I said it was nothing.”  
  
“It’s obviously something.”  
  
“It’s… It’s nothing you have to worry about.” She shakes her head.  
  
“If it has nothing to do with me, then why can’t you just tell me?”  
  
“Korra, stop following me.”  
  
“Do you even know where you’re going?”  
  
“I know this city like the back of my hand. I’m not getting lost. You, on the other hand…”  
  
“…Am not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong.” Korra grabs her arm, and she hears Asami drop her suitcase.  
  
She can feel Asami’s leg sweep into hers. Bad move.  
  
“Woah!” Korra lands on her back on the ground, and Asami rushes off into a busy sidewalk. “Oh, no you don’t.” She runs after her after picking up her suitcase—she’ll appreciate that—and manages to spot her in middle of a crowd. “Asami!”

 

Korra chases her into the swamp. Her grip on the suitcase is sweaty, and she nearly dropped it a few times. How they ended up here she’ll never know, but it slows Asami down enough to let Korra catch up to her.

“Asami, it’s not worth getting lost in the swamp. Just tell me what happened. A-and you dropped your suitcase.”

Asami stands with her back to her. “Korra, just leave.”

“I’m not leaving! Seriously, what’s your problem? All that stuff—all that stuff with Mako—that’s in the past. If you have a problem with me dating him, then you better come clean, because that’s a ridiculous thing to be beating yourself up over.”

“It’s not him,” Asami says.

“Then…”

Then it must have been Korra.

“A… Asami?”

She turns around. “Look, I’m not… I’ve been keeping my distance from you for a reason.”

“Y-yeah?”

“I’m not…” She runs her hands over her face. “I’m usually pretty picky with who I date.”

“OK. Nothing wrong with that.” Korra’s heart is hammering. What on earth is she trying to say?

“Most of the time I don’t date. But Mako was cute, and I figured I’d give it a try. He’s not the only person I’ve dated, either. There were others.”

“That’s fine too.”

“Some of them were girls.”

“Oh.”

And now it all made sense.

“There are certain places you have to go, if you want to do that sort of thing,” Asami says, vaguely. “And if people know, then they talk. If people talk, you lose business. It’s fine if you’re not a huge deal, but if you are a huge deal, and you’ve got a reputation to manage, you’ve got to keep some things under wraps. I don’t trust anyone to be OK with it unless, you know, they’re like me.”

“I…” Korra looks down. “That’s understandable.”

“I know not every guy is like Mako, and there are just as many girls who are jerks as guys. It doesn’t make much of a difference, in that sense. But people talk, and someone like you—who talks to a lot of important people—you could really ruin me for good.”

“But I would never—”

“Maybe not on purpose.” Her hair is a little disheveled-looking, now. She removes it from its ponytail and shakes it out. “But there’s still a chance.”

“Asami… I never knew.”

“Well, now you do. Are you happy now?”

“No. Sorry for forcing that out of you.”

“I don’t know how I feel about you,” she says again, and now it sounds different, now that she knows. “I was worried that if I ended up having feelings for you, you wouldn’t know how to take it.”

“I never… I’ve never even thought about it, to be honest.”

“It was never a power-grab or anything like that. People in the business world only care about people like the Avatar if they do commercial spots, you know, for film or radio. If it gets them money. I thought it was an OK thing to do after you stopped seeing Mako. I thought it would make the relationship between us a little less tense. I just… I didn’t expect you to be so enthusiastic about it, I guess. It made me scared. I have this whole other side to me that nobody knows about; I have to keep my whole other life a secret. Not that I’ve been doing much of anything with it, since I’ve had to work so much. And then we started talking about that vacation, and then I realized it would be just the two of us… I didn’t want to scare you off or make you uncomfortable. I just wanted to be friends! But to be honest…” her voice grows quiet, “it’s crossed my mind, a couple of times.”

“What… exactly?”

“Asking you out.”

She blushes. “Oh, um. Oh. OK.”

“Then I realized that maybe it wasn’t such a farfetched idea after all. If something happens there and it turns out—I don’t know what to do, Korra. And I’m not asking you for advice. It’s up to you how you want our relationship to go forward.”

“I don’t know,” she says quickly. “It barely crossed my mind that that was even a thing, you know? I’ve never really thought about it before.”

“And?”

“And like you said, I barely know anything about you. I’d have to think about it. A lot.”

“I see.”

“But, um. I’m not against it, or anything. You shouldn’t have to be afraid of, you know, telling people that you’re into girls. Plus, you’re pretty. You can get away with a lot just because of that.”

Asami grins in that way that Korra’s unused to seeing. “You’re not bad-looking, yourself.”

She looks away. “A-anyway, I’m not scared of you or anything. And I trust you not to do anything weird. All right? There’s no reason to be afraid anymore. So is the trip still on?”

“Korra…”

“What?”

“You’re really not bothered by any of this?”

“Wh… Of course I’d be bothered! You of all people—you know how Mako would probably react if he knew? He’d probably have all sorts of weird f…” She catches herself mid-sentence. “It’s just kind of jarring, you know? I would’ve never taken you for the type—not that I know how those kinds of things work, but you’ve always been so well-behaved, it’s hard to imagine you’re some kind of crazy partyer…”

“I never said that.”

“You’re not?”

“Korra, just because I like girls, it doesn’t make me a crazy partyer. It just means I have to go certain places to be fully accepted for who I am.”

“But then how do you meet…”

“I get asked out all the time. It’s really not that hard to wrap your mind around, if you take a moment to think about it.”

She shakes her head. “This is all so weird. You’re so pretty, too, I never would have guessed…”

“So now my appearance has something to do with it?”

“I mean, people would probably mistake me for being gay before you.” She pauses. “Sorry. I guess it came as more of a surprise than I thought.”

“My dad knew.”

“Did he?”

“Of course he did. He didn’t care at all.”

“Why not?”

“He was just that kind of person. It helps that he wasn’t around very often.”

“So, wait, did you…”

“Did I what?”

Korra flushes and shakes her head again. “Never mind. I didn’t say anything.”

“It’s OK to be embarrassed. I know it’s strange.”

“It’s not strange, I just wasn’t expecting… this. _You_. And on top of that… I don’t know if I should be flattered or not.” She grins sheepishly. “I’ve always admired you, but I never thought in a million years—it’s almost too much.”

“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

“Heh.” She’s smiling, but her insides feel all sorts of weird. “I guess so.”

 

It’s evening by the time they reach Asami’s office building—even walking is faster than taking a taxi, with all the road blockages and traffic. Korra’s mind is roiling with all kinds of questions, some appropriate, some not. She feels weird—she feels dirty for even knowing about it, that Asami has a secret life where she goes out and hooks up with girls. Does she even do hookups? Did Korra want to know if she did hookups? They’re almost painfully quiet on the way back, and now she feels like the one who wants to call off the vacation. Asami looks better now than she did before, but it’s a frightening kind of better, one that suggests that she has all kinds of leverage over Korra now.

“Are you going back home now?”

Asami chuckles. “Of course. I’m exhausted. I have to get ready for the trip, too—I have to make calls, reschedule meetings. Even a week’s going to be a lot of time, considering how much I do.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It was for the better.”

“Yeah,” says Korra, deflated. “Yeah.”

“I can deal with it if you turn me down. Trust me.” She smiles wryly. “Where are you headed?”

“It’s a Sunday,” Korra says, as if that answers everything. “I’m heading home. I have a few things to sort out with the Bei Fongs at Zaofu tomorrow, and Wu wants my input concerning the Earth Kingdom. Even Kuvira’s phoning in from prison, since she’s the one who drew the current boundaries. It’s gonna take a while to figure everything out.”

“Sounds like you have your hands full, too.”

“I’ll try.” Korra smiles. “See you later, then?”

Asami nods. “Later.”


	2. Observations

After their trip to the Spirit World, Asami goes straight back to work. Work means meetings: industry meetings, company meetings, board meetings, city council meetings, informal meetings where she has to somehow kiss up to her investors while maintaining her dignity and her previous decisions and her political positions on whatever the hot topic of the day is. She isn’t even that involved in politics, and she’s already tired of it. She’s trained herself to look more professional and less glamorous over the years, saving the latter for things like parties and movie premieres and events where she can be reasonably expected to look prettier than usual. She’s been simultaneously praised and criticized for liking cars as much as she likes makeup, as if there’s no reconciling between the two. The people who pry into her personal life will say, “Of course, she swings both ways; it makes perfect sense,” even though it doesn’t. She finds herself with less and less time to tinker, especially in the first week. Gradually, though, her days begin to open up.

“Hey, Asami.”

It’s as if they’d never left.

She doesn’t know how Korra finds her in the shop—doesn’t want to know, probably; Korra is the Avatar after all. She straightens up from over her car—a Model 45, their most recent—and leaves her tools on the workbench.

“Korra. It’s been a few days, hasn’t it?”

“I just got back from Ba Sing Se. The walls might’ve come down, but there’s been some…” she looks askance, “altercations.”

“What kind?”

“Gang wars. Organized crime is at an all-time high. When Kuvira’s army got dissolved, they filled the power vacuum and took over. Wu’s had trouble appointing anyone to lead the army after him, so it’s been…” she sighs. “It’s been hard finding the right people to lead.”

“Sounds tough. Get anything done, at least?”

“There are a few candidates in the running. Oh, but there’s no electoral system yet. Wu and his advisors are trying to get other international leaders to help him, but it’s not like the United Republic’s system is exactly widespread. It’s a big country, too—big changes don’t just happen overnight.”

“What about the crime rings?”

“Mako’s working for the Ba Sing Se police department now.”

“Is he?”

“Well—temporarily. He says if they can just win back the parts that Kuvira’s army had control over, that should be enough to get them started. Her army’s extremely professional, for what it’s worth. They seem like the kind of people who would die for her.”

“Loyal to the end, huh.”

“How have you been?”

“The same. The same as it’s been for the past three years,” she clarifies. “The city’s been contracting people left and right to help with the reconstruction. I didn’t think a week would change much, but I still haven’t even caught up with my mail yet. I have to go check on a few projects, too—Kuvira destroyed a few roads that we just built, and she blew a hole in the sewers. I think they managed to stop the flooding, though… About a third of the city’s still without power, but that’s down from half when we left. Let me think…” She pulls off her gloves, stares at her toolkit. “The Triads have been trying to play nice and win people over, but it’s better than letting people starve or be homeless.”

“So… Busy as usual, in other words.” Korra blinks, thinks for a moment. “You kind of…”

“Hmm?”

“You kind of left suddenly,” she says, awkward. “After the trip, I mean.”

“Oh.” The trip. Of course.

She grins wryly. “That bad, huh? I get that you wouldn’t have any time to catch up—you tend to disappear whenever you’re working—but that was a little…”

“Just say it.”

“Harsh. Granted, I hadn’t realized that you were… like that beforehand, but I didn’t think it would change anything.”

“It did.”

“It totally did.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. I can’t really blame you, given everything that happened.”

“I guess a vacation wasn’t really what I needed.”

“Are you better now, though?” she asks. “Getting back into the swing of things?”

“I think so.”

“But are you really?” Her expression is grave. “The Spirit World… Let’s just say…”

“Korra, don’t try to sugarcoat it. You make more sense when you’re straightforward.”

“All right, it felt more like a funeral than a vacation.” She cringes. “Sorry, I didn’t—”

Asami grins. “I understand.”

“I thought the weird emotional feedback thing only happened to me because I’m the Avatar, but it happens whenever someone in the Spirit World is experiencing strong emotions. It snowed, like, three times while we were there, and you reverted to a six-year-old for a while and we saw your mom—ooh.” She winces. “Look, I’m really, really sorry.” She takes Asami’s hands into hers. “Spiritual journeys are supposed to be enlightening, not depressing.” Then she squeezes them.

“You were only trying to do something nice.” She smiles sadly.

“But I should have known! That was—it was… Damn it, Asami, it was really bad.”

“At least the spirits were kind.”

“Y… Yeah.” Korra lets go, reluctantly. “And they were right about one thing.”

“What?” She looks her in the eye for the first time since Korra arrived.

“You wouldn’t have told me a thing if we hadn’t gone there. Would you?”

Asami shrugs. “What can I say? I’m not good at dealing with… emotions.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean you can just run away from them. Even if you can forget about them for a while when you’re working, it’s not going to make them disappear.”

“You came all the way over here to tell me this?”

“No, I came here to see you,” Korra says, firmly. “You don’t tell anyone anything. It’s not just me, is it? You don’t trust anyone with what you’re feeling.”

She leans back on her workbench. “That’s the way we did it, in our family. You don’t burden other people with your troubles; you tough it out. I’m doing good things, Korra. I can’t stop now.”

“But I saw how you really are. You’re a mess!” She gestures around. “You have all these unresolved troubles and issues; you barely have any friends; Mako was a jerk to you; Bolin wouldn’t know how to help; and no one else is close enough to understand what you’re going through.” Korra puts a hand on her chest. “I don’t even understand what you’re going through. And it’s not helping that you think the best way to deal with grief is to ignore it.”

“I don’t have the time.”

“Then make the time.” She folds her arms. “Say it’s a direct order from the Avatar.”

“Korra… I really don’t…”

“No.”

“What?”

“I’m not letting you work anymore.”

She clenches her teeth. “You can’t do that.”

Korra grabs her shoulders. “Look, it doesn’t have to be now. I’m sorry the Spirit World trip was hard on you. And I’m sorry if I’m acting like Mako right now, but he has a point: you don’t talk. You don’t talk because you don’t think you have any problems, but it’s so obvious that you do.” She hesitates. “If you don’t think that what we saw in the Spirit World was a problem, then that’s up to you.” She lets go. “All I’m saying is that it looks like you needed some help.”

 

That night, Asami drives. She could be a taxi driver; she knows these streets so well. She avoids the construction, avoids traffic; she just drives. She gets on the highway and drives past the speed limit, then takes the exit back to Republic City and does another lap around the city limits. Feels the wind in her hair and the friction from the wheel, hears the engine roaring and the tires screeching with every turn.

Korra’s right. Asami does have problems. But she also has brains and looks and money and an ever-growing sob story; she’s been asked out by at least five dozen people at this point, if not more. She hates getting close to people. She hates people, in general. She’s a machine person. People are hard to understand. Cars aren’t. Maps aren’t. Urban infrastructure isn’t. She’s been taught from a very young age to avoid looking vulnerable—people will take advantage of you, try to hurt you, betray you, she’s learned. Then they turn around and ask for your forgiveness. And then you lose them.

She’s low on gas when she finds herself parking on a familiar side street—Ren’s Noodle Bar is here, a place she hasn’t visited in ages. As if on their own, her feet take her there. The bar is open late: up to two in the morning, for all the hungover regulars coming from the other bars.

Ren isn’t around when he comes in, but the worker at the front recognizes her right away and slips into the back kitchen.

“Miss Asami?”

“Mr. Ren.” She sits at the bar. The bar is empty, save for one or two patrons. It’s one in the morning.

“You’re Hiroshi’s daughter,” Ren says. He looks pleased with himself for remembering. It must have been at least six years since she last visited this place—a tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant specializing in Fire Nation-style noodle soup. They’ve always made it too spicy for her tastes, but her father loved it.

“That’s right.”

She doesn’t remember when they started growing apart. Maybe it was when she learned how to drive, or even before then. But they used to be close.

“I’ve seen your face in the papers. You’ve grown into a beautiful young woman—your mother would be proud.”

“Thank you.” She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, a coy gesture.

“I’m sorry to hear about your father,” he says, then. “But your work with Future Industries has been impressive, in spite of that. You have his smarts, his determination.”

“Everything I learned, I owe to him.”

“But why now?” he asks. “Why not stop by earlier? Have you just been busy, or…?”

“A stupid reason,” she says. “I thought… I avoided this place for the longest time because you reminded me of him, but I…” She looks away. “After I came and visited him, I thought… It’s so absurd, but I thought the next time I came here, I would come with him. You know. Like old times.”

“Oh. Asami…”

“I never liked the tantan noodles, but maybe I could try again, this time.”

She doesn’t know what she has to gain from this. She might have her father’s mind, but she’ll never have his tastes.

Ren smiles until his eyes crinkle. “It’s on the house.”

 

Korra is waiting outside her office the next day. She hopes it doesn’t become a habit.

“Hey, Asami.”

“Korra.” She looks up from her desk, as usual. “Didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

“Do you really hate me that much?”

“I don’t hate you.”

“You busy tonight? Wanna go out for dinner? Watch a mover? Go to the park?”

“I don’t have the time.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“You never have time.”

“I don’t.”

“You _make_ time.”

“Korra,” she says again, and falters. “I can’t. Not today.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t—” She can’t use that excuse again. “Shoot. What did you want?”

“Just to go out.”

“Like a date?”

“Not like a date.” She pauses and frowns. “Is it like a date?”

“Do you want it to be a date?”

“Not really.”

“Then it’s not a date.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Just in case.”

It takes her a moment to parse that.

Then, as if on cue, she blushes. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Privately, Asami hopes she’ll get too embarrassed to say anything else and leave.

She doesn’t. “You don’t even have a little time? To talk?”

“Are you still worried about me?”

“Asami, you turned the Spirit World into a living nightmare.”

“I know.”

“You were lucky that you didn’t corrupt any of the spirits!”

“I’m sorry. That probably wasn’t the kind of vacation you were expecting.”

“No, don’t be. I just…” she rubs the back of her neck, “want to… get to know you better.” She sighs. “If calling it a date gets you up and going, then, whatever—”

“No, not whatever—”

“We’ll make it a date.”

“I’m not going on a fake date with you.”

“Most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, anyway,” she says, shrugging. “Unless, you know, we hold hands and kiss in public.”

“You’re surprisingly comfortable given the way you acted when I came out to you.”

“That was different! That was before I saw that you had…” she pauses, “issues.”

Asami frowns. “Oh, so it’s because I have ‘issues’ now.”

She waves her hands. “No, that’s not the reason why! You’re the one who told me you were interested in the first place; of course I’d be confused. All I want to do is help you. All right? Forget about that other stuff for now.”

“How did you solve your problems, when you lost the ability to bend, or go into the Avatar state?”

“I… A spirit guided me into the swamp and I got some help from Toph. Then Zaheer helped me meditate in the Spirit World.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work for me.”

“I didn’t think it would,” she mumbles.

“Korra, I think I just need some time. I can still work. The rest will come naturally.”

“But—! But that’s so…”

“What?” Asami asks, raising an eyebrow. “Logical?”

“I guess. I don’t know.” Korra shrugs. “You’re always so composed, so once I saw that you needed help…” She shakes her head. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m just overthinking things.”

“But I think you’re right.”

“Huh?”

“You know how I said I get asked out a lot? Well… It’s not like I don’t try to go on dates.”

“Oh,” she says, blankly.

“It’s just that nothing ever comes out of them.”

“What? Why not?” She looks almost insulted.

“People get bored with me.”

“Bored? With you?”

“They think I’m bland,” she says.

“Bland? How?”

“Korra, do you ever see me doing anything other than work?”

“Well, no.”

“It doesn’t change when I’m dating people, either.”

“So… You say you’re dating someone, but in reality all you’re doing is working,” she says.

“Yeah. So eventually I get dumped and they move on.”

“Is it because…”

“I’m not a very good girlfriend, to put it simply.”

She blinks, as if in disbelief. “Oookay. So… Do you want to find a date? Are you even interested in dating? Someone like you could just be single for the rest of your life. I don’t think it’d make much of a difference.”

“I don’t know. I don’t really ‘get’ people. And I’m jealous of you for that, too.”

“Jealous of me? For what?”

She smiles. “Because you look like you’re always having so much fun.”

“Me? Since when?”

“Well, when we were in the Spirit World, for example. When I wasn’t… making it rain or snow or summoning up bad memories from nowhere. We saw this impossibly huge field of flowers, and met some friendly spirits, and you really seemed to be enjoying yourself then.”

“Oh,” she says.

“Or whenever you’re riding Naga, or talking to Bolin. I feel like a stick in the mud compared to you.”

“But you like driving, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“So there’s one thing. And you like tinkering with cars and mechs, and stuff. It’s not like you never enjoy yourself, either.”

“But those are things you do on your own. And me… All I really know how to do is be polite, and say the right thing, and talk to the right people to get things done. There’s too much at risk for me to say what’s really on my mind. It’s exhausting—and when I get home I don’t really want to talk to anyone anymore. I guess I treated dating the same way: always being polite, always saying exactly what they want to hear, never saying what’s on my mind… And people got tired of it.”

“But you’re honest around me.”

“Yeah,” she says. “Because I can trust you. You’re not the person who’s pouring tens of millions of yuan into my company; you’re not President Raiko; you’re not Tenzin; you’re not Varrick; you’re not holding some essential part of my livelihood over my head and asking me to beg for it.”

“Ouch.”

“That’s the reality of business.”

“But you’ve done some really amazing things. Republic City owes a lot to you—the world owes a lot to you; you’ve helped the Avatar at every turn. You’re not a boring person. You just don’t know… how to present yourself. You of all people,” Korra says, “should not have dates dumping you left and right. And you shouldn’t be scared to take off work every once in a while for reasons that don’t involve saving the world.”

“This’ll be my fourth year participating in the Republic City Annual Car Show.”

“Great!”

“I’m sponsoring it, actually.”

“Oh. You really do need better hobbies, huh.”

“I can’t think of any hobbies that would let me keep my record clean. I stopped street racing once I realized I could get arrested for it. And the others, well…”

“Yeah,” she says. “I can imagine.”

“Got any advice?”

“Not really. Maybe… Drop a few of your obligations? Stop trying to do so much?”

“Interesting advice, coming from the Avatar.”

“Hey, I’m trying.”

She chuckles. “I’ll think about it.”

 

Over the next few weeks, Korra’s visits do become habitual. Her associates and employees are surprised not by the mere fact of them, but rather by the increasing frequency at which they occur. One time she brings Bolin and Opal over and invites—or rather drags—her to dinner; another time she brings Naga out during her lunch break to play fetch in the park. She’s a little scared by Korra’s timeliness. The Avatar seems to have her schedule memorized to an almost prescient degree. Rumors start going around the office again—did something happen? The Avatar’s been stopping by often recently. Are they planning something? Is President Raiko up to something again? Is Air Temple Island low on funding; is Tenzin sending her here?

Are they going out?

Korra’s response to the question is a flat “no,” and besides, she’d say, it’s not what she needs right now. Maybe it’s because they have so many friends in common, or maybe it’s because Korra is really that oblivious, but inevitably they end up spending most of their free time together. She might disappear for days at a time, but she always comes back with stories and complaints, and sits and listens to Asami talk about work. For the first time in ages they start to feel like friends again—no awkwardness, no Mako to complicate things, nothing but a nice and easy friendship.

She brings her to Ren’s on a whim.

“Woah, it’s tiny!”

“Hey, Asami.”

“Hey, Jian. Is Ren in?”

“Let me check…”

They sit down at the bar. Korra gazes around. The decor is ascetic, traditional—paper lanterns, inspirational sayings written on hanging scrolls, weekly specials glued to the walls. They sit on high bar stools, but there are a few tables stuffed into the small space, no more than two or three.

“How’d you find this place?”

“My father used to go here.”

“Oh,” Korra says, as if she asked something she shouldn’t have.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Asami. Hey, you brought a friend—isn’t that the Avatar?”

“Yeah.” Korra extends a hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Korra.”

“You didn’t tell me we would be hosting such an honored guest!”

“There’s no need for theatrics, Ren. We’re just here for the food.”

“What do you want, Avatar Korra? We’ll prepare it for you right away!”

“Ah, well… What’s good?”

“The tantan soup is the best in Republic City,” says Ren.

Korra shoots a look at Asami.

She smiles. “It’s hot. I still don’t like it.”

“Bring it! Make it extra spicy.”

“Korra…”

“What about you, Asami?” Ren asks.

“I’ll have the usual.”

“Coming right up!”

Their food comes out almost immediately; the place is completely free of customers, save the two of them.

“Soy sauce flavor, huh?” Korra looks at her.

“It’s classic.”

“So how are you getting along, eh, Asami?” Ren asks. “You’re looking better, nowadays.”

“Oh, nothing… Same as usual.”

“You never told me you were friends with the Avatar. When did that happen?”

“Oh, well…”

They look at each other.

“It’s a long story,” Asami says.

“I’m guessing it has something to do with the Equalist movement, huh.” Ren frowns. “Not to tarnish your father’s good name, Asami, but he made a bad choice.”

“I know,” she says, harshly. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life dealing with it.”

“So Ren knew your father?”

“Yeah. They go way back. Ren was looking to open up a shop in Republic City with his family recipes, but he didn’t have the cash. My dad said that if he made it big here, he’d loan him enough to open up a place. He didn’t make it big—not until the Satomobile, anyway—but once he’d made a little, he loaned nearly everything he made to Ren, here.” She gestures to him.

“We were on the verge of bankruptcy for a while, him and I!” Ren laughs. “He’d come and eat here everyday just to keep us in the black. Once he struck gold with Future Industries, he even offered to set us up with a larger space. But I couldn’t.”

“Why not?” Korra asks.

“I heard Future Industries was doing some shady business.” He grimaces. “I wasn’t taking dirty money.”

She looks at Asami.

“I didn’t know. The whole thing came as a surprise to me too, remember. I knew he was involved in something suspicious, but what could I do about it? I…” She turns away. “By the time I was forced to do something about it, the company was in too deep. It’s a miracle that people were willing to do business with us after that. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I was asked to do… Eventually I had to beg some distant relatives over in the Fire Nation to help keep the company afloat. For a while I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to pay off all my loans, but I made it somehow.”

“It’s even more impressive when you put it that way,” says Korra.

“At my lowest point, I had three hundred yuan in the bank and had to pawn the title of my only car.”

“Oh. Ow.”

“How’d you make it through?” asks Ren.

“By helping the Avatar.”

“Wait…” Korra looks at her. “What?”

“The positive press helped clear my name. Donations started pouring in after that. I had to go to a lot of charity events and rub shoulders with Republic City bigwigs—like Varrick—to keep the cash flowing, but soon enough the company was back in business. And really, it’s all thanks to Korra.”

“Glad I could help.”

“So…” Ren leans in, “you two got anything big planned for Republic City?”

Asami looks at her. “I…”

“No, not really,” says Korra. “Honestly, I just got back; I’m still trying to catch up with what’s been happening for the past three years. Maybe once I’m finally settled in.”

“Like what?” Asami has to ask. “What were you thinking of?”

“I don’t know! It’d be cool to leave my mark on here, like Avatar Aang did, but I don’t even know… I’m not really into monuments or anything like that. I’d want it to be practical, something people could actually use.”

“Hmm…” Ren rubs his chin. “What does Republic City need more of right now?”

“Stability,” Asami says almost immediately. “It needs to rebuild, and it needs to be built better. The Triple Triad still controls maybe a fourth of the city, but the number fluctuates, and Lin says at this point they’ve taken over every part of the city that Raiko doesn’t have his hands on because resources are stretched so thin right now.”

They stare at her.

“Sorry. I’ve been… talking about this a lot, lately.” She doesn’t even realize that she’s standing until she sits down. The silence is so heavy that she distracts herself by smoothing down her skirt.

“I want to talk to Kuvira again,” Korra says, suddenly.

“Why?” Asami asks.

“I’m thinking about trying to get her pardoned.”

“What? No!”

“Look, Ba Sing Se is a mess without her, and Wu’s already acknowledged that he doesn’t have the skills to manage the Earth Kingdom. I know people hate her, but I’m not saying that she should become the dictator of the Earth Empire again, or anything. But she’s been phoning in anyway, and even if it’s just temporarily, I think she should be let out of jail so she can help survey the damage.”

“Oh.” She exhales. “That’s what you meant.”

“I know it’s a risky move. But she’s not crazy—not the way Varrick and Bolin were describing her. She’s just… stubborn. And she’s not in charge of anything anymore. She doesn’t have a big military to go and bully people around with. She’s just one person.”

“But Korra…”

“I just want to talk,” she says again. “Besides… I don’t think anyone would agree with me anyway. If we can at least figure out what her long-term plans were, we might be able to incorporate it in the new Earth Kingdom’s—or Republic, whatever we’re calling it—constitution. She knew how to organize people. I think it's worth a shot.”

“I see.” Asami is quiet. “Good luck, then.”

“You don’t like this idea, do you?”

“As long as you’re not giving her any real power. I don’t… I can’t trust her. She needs to stay in jail; she _killed_ people.”

“I know. And I understand that. Maybe I spoke too soon. Just…” Korra sighs. “After her and Zaheer… It’s not so cut-and-dry anymore.”

“It’s fine, Korra. I understand.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. I do.” Asami looks at the ground. “Forgiveness is a powerful thing.”

Asami drops her off at Air Temple Island and drives slowly back to her apartment. She doesn’t know how to feel about Kuvira, her father.

She doesn’t know how to feel about Korra, either.


	3. Confrontations

Korra doesn’t know how long Kuvira’s trial is going to last, or how many crimes she’s been accused of. It’s plain as day that she’s getting life in prison, regardless; if nothing else turning herself in has saved her from a potential execution.

Tenzin meets her outside the building. “Are you sure about this, Korra?”

She shakes her head. “She’s not going to do anything to me—she doesn’t have a reason to. And anyway, it’s only going to be a short meeting. They’re only giving me twenty minutes.”

He sighs. “Well, just be careful. I’ll be waiting in the lobby once you’ve finished.”

They take her down several corridors, until she finally sees the room she and Kuvira are set to speak in. They’re separated by a counter and a pane of glass, and Kuvira is noticeably handcuffed with platinum shackles. Her hair has been cut short—it doesn’t look right on her, somehow. Her expression is as steely as ever.

Korra sits down across from her. Her voice is muted through the glass.

“Avatar.”

“Kuvira.”

“What’s your reason for coming here? I wouldn’t have expected to see you so soon—at least,” she smiles thinly, “not as long as I’m behind bars.”

“It’s the Earth Kingdom,” she explains. “I want to know if there’s anything you haven’t been able to tell us, yet. Something you might want to tell in person.”

“Everything I need to say I’ve told you over the phone. There’s nothing more that you’ll hear from me in person.”

“You know as well as I do that that’s not true. You had ‘re-education camps,’ you forced people into labor, you set up huge mining operations, and all the money went straight back to the army. But that’s just when you were conquering the Earth Kingdom. You had plans for after you took over, didn’t you? What were you expecting to do?”

She sneers. “I wanted to make myself Queen. Live off the riches of the land. The Earth Kingdom is the biggest, wealthiest country in the world. If it could be properly unified—unlike how badly it was mismanaged under the last Earth Queen—it would eclipse both the Fire Nation and the United Republic in terms of natural resource production on every account: crops, minerals, livestock, anything you can imagine. The Fire Nation got ahead through the use of technology, but the Earth Kingdom could surpass them through pure manpower. A big country like that, properly put to work? It could make life easier for all of us.”

“You never expected to step down? Ever?”

“I don’t trust anyone to manage the country the way I did. I produced results. Superior results. Rice production throughout the Earth Kingdom jumped thirty percent two years after the Earth Queen passed away. Platinum doubled—of course, you know where that went. Unemployment rates dropped, and many people were grateful for being given a chance to join the army. It was a small price to pay to live under someone you didn’t like, and the alternative, well…” She smirks. “You might as well revert to the feudal system. And someone like Wu taking over? You’ve got to be kidding me. Not only is his personality disgusting, but that kid was so far down the line he wasn’t even properly educated.”

“But you could have cooperated with him.”

“Nonsense. The Ba Sing Se elite were already geared up to take advantage of the weak crown. Nothing would have changed for the Earth Kingdom in that case, but… I’m sure you understand where I’m going with this.”

“The Earth Queen was pressing airbenders into military service. I’m well aware of that, Kuvira.”

“And worse. They complied with the Earth Queen’s wishes, so they’re no better than her. I had to do something. It didn't matter to me if I had to look evil while doing it.”

“You didn’t have to go to such extremes, though!”

“I realized that too late. By the time I saw that the public no longer agreed with my methods, I had to secure my victory in any way possible. I acknowledge that it was a stupid mistake—I could have handled the situation differently.”

“But what was your real motivation? It couldn’t have been pure greed. I…” She falters. “I just know it.”

“The Earth Kingdom’s always been too big, too corrupt. It’s suffered from a long history of selfish, stupid leaders.” She shifts in her seat. The shackles look uncomfortable; Korra would know. “I blame inbreeding—they want to keep royal blood pure. That accounts for idiots like Wu and the late Earth Queen. But Suyin Bei Fong created a paradise in Zaofu. It’s impossible to recreate on a large scale, but the way everyone was treated and managed, the way everything seemed to go so smoothly, it was admirable.” Kuvira smiles, tightly. “Sure, even Zaofu has its own fair share of problems, but to someone like me, it was practically a utopia.”

“So you wanted the rest of the Earth Kingdom to look like Zaofu?”

“She wasn’t going to do it. Suyin only cares about her children, her family. My only family was my comrades-in-arms. We fought for a better future, Korra. We fought for what was right.”

“Does Suyin know about all this?”

She scoffs. “She and her sister are two-of-a-kind. They only see what they want to see.”

“Avatar Korra. Your time is up.” The guard standing at the door motions to her.

“Oh. But—”

“Your time is up, Avatar Korra. Please follow me.”

“All right.”

When Korra looks back, Kuvira has her head down.

 

Tenzin, as promised, is waiting for her in the lobby area.

“So that’s the story.” Tenzin preens his beard. “I suppose it makes sense… Zaofu is a very modern city, after all. There’s nowhere else in the world like it. It sounds like she may have lost sight of her goals at some point, though.”

“Well, yeah, but at least now we know what she was trying to do. I don’t know how much the others know about it, though. I ran out of time before I could ask.”

“How far in advance did she plan all of this out? To me it seemed like she was simply taking over whatever territory she could find.”

“I did some research before I went in—because the country’s so big, the Earth Kingdom states were mostly autonomous anyway. They pay taxes and the Earth Kingdom performs a census every ten years, and otherwise the only real link the rural states have to Ba Sing Se are the big businesses. Kuvira actually built factories in remote regions—her army organized routes and built new roads, and they improved the train system and bolstered national security. They did a lot in three years.”

“Hmm, yes, I remember hearing about all of her new mining operations, and the forced labor… But how would that eventually lead to a city like Zaofu?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think she was lying, though. I think what she was really going for… was prosperity, first, and once everybody was wealthy, then they’d be able to do whatever they wanted, like how people live in Zaofu. She just took a brute-force route to get there, since she didn’t trust anybody to get it done any other way.”

“She was impatient, in other words.”

“And she had a personal stake in it, obviously. The Earth Kingdom plans on keeping her infrastructure intact, don’t they?”

“I believe they plan on maintaining the new roads and railroads, yes.”

“And her army?”

“Her generals are being tried in court. Her soldiers were given a choice: either join the Earth Kingdom’s army, or find new work.”

Korra frowns. “Wu better be doing as much as he can to put his new system into place. It’s a nice idea, but the whole ‘republic’ idea only works if your leaders are trustworthy people. And I haven’t talked to Su much since Varrick’s wedding.”

“Korra…” Tenzin looks at her. “What have you been thinking about?”

“Me?” Her brow furrows. “Nothing… Why?”

“You’ve been much more interested in Earth Kingdom politics ever since going on that Spirit World vacation with Asami. Did something happen?”

“Oh… Er… Not really.” Nothing she could think of that would be related to any of this, at least. “I just…”

He frowns. “I find it hard to believe that nothing happened while you were there.”

“It’s just…” She sighs. “Asami’s been really depressed ever since her father died, and it was obvious after we entered the Spirit World that something was wrong with her. I don’t really know what to do about it, so I’ve been trying to help out with other stuff. Every time I solve one problem as the Avatar, another ten problems crop up that I can’t do anything about.”

“She needs time, Korra.”

“I know that!” she snaps at him briefly, and then groans. “Sorry. It’s been bothering me. A lot. I’ve been trying to cheer her up, but it doesn’t look like anything’s working.”

“I’m sure she appreciates the time you spend with her, even if she doesn’t show it.”

She looks up at him. “Really?”

“Of course she does.” He places a hand on her shoulder. “When the time comes and she needs your help, she’ll ask for it. Just be patient until then.”

She swears she’s heard that line before. “That’s what Katara was telling me the whole time that poison was keeping me from bending, and the only thing that helped was getting out of there!”

“Korra.”

“You and Asami and everybody else, you all say the exact same thing. Why couldn’t you try giving me some real advice for once?”

He doesn’t seem impressed. “About what?”

“How can I get her out of this rut? I know she’ll probably be fine—this is Asami we’re talking about, after all—but I don’t care if she’s going to be fine. I don’t want her to be fine. I want her to be… I want her to be great. Amazing. Better than she’s ever been before. You weren’t there in the Spirit World with us, Tenzin. You didn’t see what I saw. I know I shouldn’t pry too much, but it’s been killing me that she’s been suffering this whole time!” Korra sighs. “Your mom wasn’t murdered by gang members, was she? And your dad didn’t become a criminal for the sake of getting revenge. And now he’s dead! She can’t even talk to him anymore; Tenzin, she doesn’t even have any friends! She doesn’t even know how to make friends. She’s…” Her shoulders slump. “She’s probably lonely, is what she is.”

“Then I believe you’ve found your answer.”

 

For all that Asami has trouble maintaining romantic relationships, she definitely knows how to flirt.

It’s a sign that her mood is improving.

It also drives Korra nuts.

She doesn’t even have anyone she can vent to—she isn’t going to out Asami to just anyone, after all—so she sits and steams over it, until one day after an impromptu airbender training session she finds herself, amazingly, in the same empty room with a Bolin-less Opal and no one else. They’re not even close, but who else is she supposed to talk to about this? Tenzin?

And for the record, it always bothered her that the new airbender uniforms were so tight. Definitely too tight. She keeps her gaze very deliberately focused around Opal’s face— _damn it, Asami, stop putting ideas into my head_ —and Opal, as always, stares at her with that clear, penetrating gaze. She picks up on things fast.

“Opal,” she says.

Her lips briefly turn up into a smile. “Yeah?”

“Can I, uh, ask you about something?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

She really, really wishes Opal could read her mind. She’s met at least a few people who might as well have been able to; she knows it’s possible. “I… Um…”

Opal’s smile is starting to fade.

“Sorry, this is kind of a tough question.”

“No, take your time.” The smile recovers. What a trooper.

“What… Um… What do you do when Bolin annoys you?” That didn’t come out right.

She blinks. “When he annoys me? What do you mean?”

“You know, when he cracks an inappropriate joke, or embarrasses you, or something.”

She frowns. “He’s always like that.”

“But when he really screws up.”

She sighs. She doesn’t seem to be catching on. “When he finally shuts up I usually take him around the back and tell him what he did wrong. I know he doesn’t mean it—he’s just a little awkward. It’s Bolin, you know? Sweet, loving, friendly… but not too bright.”

“Heh.” Korra pauses. “So it’s never bothered you?”

“No…” Now her patience is starting to wear thin. “Well, a few times, maybe, yes. It’s usually not his dumb jokes that I get angry at, though—like when he joined up with Kuvira, that was a really stupid move. But no, nothing about his behavior. Why?”

Oh, sweet Raava— _sorry, Raava_ —she really missed the mark there. “Uh, I was just…”

Opal’s eyes narrow in that cagey, suspicious way. “Who are we talking about, exactly?”

Korra shrinks. “A… friend.”

“A friend?” She thinks for a moment. “You must mean Asami.”

“Yeah.”

“Asami… and who?” And now Opal is glaring at her, and thinking, and she can’t be suspecting—

“Opal, if I tell you, you have to keep this a secret.”

“I’m listening.” She thinks again. “By the way… This doesn’t have anything to do with that Spirit World vacation everyone’s been gossiping about, does it?”

“People have been gossiping about it?” Korra’s jaw drops. “I didn’t even… Who? When?”

“I don’t know. I just heard from Bolin that you two left for the Spirit World on a vacation for a week without telling anyone. Pretty crazy place to take a vacation, huh?”

“Yeah.” She exhales. “Yeah, pretty crazy, huh? It was… It was…” She looks away. “You could call it that.”

“What happened? Why didn’t you guys tell anyone?”

She runs a hand over her face. “Look, after Asami’s dad passed away, we kind of decided to take a… trip together.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to do in _secret_.”

“We did it in secret specifically because Asami didn’t want people gossiping about it.” Korra groans. “Anyway, it was pretty bad. Asami’s negative emotions messed up the place, so we were navigating a literal living nightmare for a while.”

“Oh. Oh no, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, I kind of saw… her house… on fire… Yeah.” She looks down at the ground. “Not something I think she ever wants to go through again. I’m pretty sure I turned her off of going back to the Spirit World forever.”

“That’s terrible. Is she OK?”

“Oh, yeah. She went back to work and everything.”

“She couldn’t have been, though; it’s been, what, a month?”

“Six weeks.”

“That isn’t enough time at all.”

“I know. I’ve been visiting her, like, every other day. I can’t get those images out of my head; it’s been driving me crazy. She acts like it isn’t a problem, though.”

“So she’s been cracking inappropriate jokes around you?” Opal asks.

“No, she’s, uh… Not exactly.”

“Then why did you…”

“She’s been… acting weird around me.”

“How, exactly?”

Opal is the kind of person who will keep badgering her with questions until she gets the truth. Korra isn’t sure if she’s grateful for that right now or not.

“She’s been… opening up to me… a lot more.” She probably should have said that first, come to think of it.

“Korra…” Opal’s brows are knit. “Is she making you uncomfortable?”

“Yeah. She doesn’t have a lot of friends, and then we went to the Spirit World and I saw all of that, and so, she’s been telling me a lot of things, lately.”

“And it bothers you that she’s doing that.” She can practically see the gears turning in her head. “That’s funny; I always thought you two were close. I mean, not super close, but definitely close enough to share things like that.”

“We, uh… Really?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Was I mistaken? Didn’t she turn against her father during the whole Equalist revolt because she met you guys? You’ve been friends with her for years, haven't you?”

“Yeah,” Korra says, only barely realizing how stupid she sounds right now. “Kind of. Sort of. It’s a long story.”

Opal thinks a little harder. Korra’s heart rate jumps. “So why would you be… No.”

“Opal?”

“She isn’t… She’s not…” She pauses. “You aren’t… dating, are you? That would explain the secret rendezvous.”

“It wasn’t a secret rendezvous—”

She glowers at her.

“OK, maybe a little bit, but we’re not dating. I barely knew her up until, like, Varrick’s wedding! How could I date someone I hardly ever talked to? Yeah, she started being nice to me after Harmonic Convergence and the whole thing with Vaatu but that was just Asami being nice; we couldn’t call ourselves friends—”

“Korra, you realize you’re acting really suspicious right now, don’t you?”

“We’re not dating!”

“I understand that.”

“Then what’s so suspicious?”

“You’re really wound-up. Has she been hitting on you, or something?”

“That’s exactly what she’s been doing and it’s been driving me absolutely crazy.” She holds her hands out. “I have Avatar stuff to do, Opal; I can’t be dealing with Asami all the time.”

“Do you like her?”

“Well, yeah, sure, but not like that.”

“She seems to think so, though.”

“Well, she’s wrong.”

Opal grins a bit. “Korra…”

“What?”

“Would it really be bothering you this much if you didn’t feel anything for her?”

“What? No, not you, too…”

“I’m just saying, if you really just wanted to be friends, you would have told her to stop already.”

She practically freezes. “What? But she’s…”

“Asami isn’t dense, Korra. She knows when to back off. If you really aren’t interested, then don’t act like you’re interested.”

“I’m not!”

Her voice lowers. “I mean, don’t shout so much. I think half the Temple heard you.”

Korra flushes. “You’re joking.”

“I think Asami’s getting the better of you, in this case. I can definitely see her being a bit of a flirt.”

“Am I the only one who thinks it’s weird that she’s into girls?”

“I don’t think it’s weird that she’s into you.”

She grits her teeth. “Seriously?”

“…And that’s probably one of the reasons why. She hardly ever talks to anyone, and she doesn’t seem like the type of person who would try to make friends with you just because you’re the Avatar.”

“Well, you’re suddenly an expert on Asami now.”

“That’s the feeling I get from talking to her. She’s a private person, you know? If she likes girls, she definitely wouldn’t tell just anyone about it.”

“Yeah, except me.”

“She trusts you. You should be happy about that.”

“Opal, she’s—” She stops herself, suddenly. Her voice drops to a whisper. “She can’t keep doing this to me!”

She giggles. “Then you should tell her to stop!”

“There’s nothing funny about it.”

“Maybe not to you.”

“Hey, if this were happening to you—”

“But it’s not.”

“Ugh.” Korra notices her satchel lying on the ground in front of her and picks it up. “Never mind.”

“Asami’s pretty subtle…” Opal pauses. “It probably drives you up the wall, huh.”

She starts heading for the door. “She’s depressed. If I turn her down—”

“It wouldn’t be the end of the world.”

“I can’t just—”

“Like I said, Korra, either turn her down straight, or think a little harder about why it’s bothering you so much.”

“I don’t like her. I’m not—”

“I get that,” Opal says, in a tone Korra’s sure she’s only ever used on Bolin. She slips through the sliding door. “Asami is a friend.”

Korra follows after her. “Right. A friend.”

 

Asami vanishes for two weeks in the way that she usually does. Korra shuttles from Republic City to Zaofu to Ba Sing Se and back. She’s so busy that she doesn’t even notice they haven’t talked until Mako suggests that they all get together, and then she’s on the phone with Asami, panicking.

“Mako? Are you kidding me?” It’s late—the only free time Asami has right now is dead-middle-of-the-nighttime—and Korra is hissing into Air Temple Island’s only available phone. “Could he have picked a better time?”

“Korra, we can’t turn him down.” Asami’s voice is making her stomach do flip-flops; she doesn’t even care why.

“Why not? Just say that you’re busy. I have excuses; I’m sure you have a million of them!”

“But we’ve never turned him down before. It’s going to look suspicious.”

It’s like they’re already going out. “But…”

“I haven’t seen him since Varrick’s wedding. Have you?”

“I went three years without seeing you guys. Six weeks is nothing to me.”

“That was different. Just act the way you always do.”

“Oh, stupid and awkward?”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“It’s your fault! You’re the one who won’t stop flirting with me.”

“Not over the phone, Korra…”

“I mean, I trust you to not do anything weird, but I don’t trust me to not do anything weird.” She knows Opal would never say a word to Bolin, but she doesn’t trust Bolin not to do something stupid and she doesn’t have the patience for that right now. “I can’t see him right now. Not when we’re like this.”

“You have to go. Both of us do. I don’t want anything to seem out of place.”

“Well, I can’t just pretend you haven’t been flirting with me for the past month. What am I supposed to say?”

“Don’t say anything. We’re not even going out; he has no reason to suspect us.”

“And if we were?”

“If we were, we would just tell him.”

“That’s so awkward!”

“Shh, Korra, calm down. Remember, Bolin’s going to be there too.”

“He can’t make all of the small talk, though.”

“Then just talk about work. You… You talked to Kuvira, didn’t you? And you’ve been going around to Zaofu and Ba Sing Se—I’m surprised you haven’t run into him yet.”

“He’s really into the whole detective thing. He’s as bad about work as you are.”

“All right, well, then focus on that. Don’t talk about relationships; don’t talk about our relationships; and if he asks us about anything, tell him everything is going fine.”

“I don’t think I can lie through my teeth like that.”

“I’ll deal with him. If you’re awkward around him, I think he’ll understand. He’s not going to pry; I’m sure of it.”

“Just… One more thing.”

“What is it?”

“Is Wu going to be there?” _No, no, no, please no, he hits on everyone he’ll probably hit on_ Mako _this time please no—_

“I think he has a meeting.”

“Good. I don’t think I could deal with all of this _and_ him.”

Asami laughs. It’s the most relaxing sound in the world. “All right. See you then.”

“Yeah. Later.”

Korra slams the phone back onto its base, and slides down onto her knees. “Wonderful.”

 

Korra and Bolin arrive uncharacteristically early—or perhaps it’s that Mako and Asami are uncharacteristically late. They wait outside the restaurant: Wu arranged everything, much to no one’s surprise, despite not being able to make it. According to Asami, he was supposed to be there, but he’d been caught shirking his duties one too many times and was now facing “strict disciplinary measures” as punishment.

Bolin checks his watch. “They’re usually not this late, huh?”

“Yeah.” Korra steals a glance at him. He’s in his usual jacket and slacks, nothing special. She hadn’t heard it was going to be a fancy restaurant, so she hadn’t dressed up for the occasion either. “Maybe one of them, but I hadn’t expected both.” She assumes the worst, automatically, but Bolin seems perfectly oblivious.

He smiles at her. “So, how have you been?”

“You mean for the past three days since I last saw you?” She cracks a grin. “Same as usual. You?”

“Nothing to report here, heh.”

They look at each other again. Korra starts to frown, and once she does, Bolin does too.

“Opal’s mom really hates Kuvira, huh?”

“She only conquered the Earth Kingdom in three years and tried to take over the United Republic. And she imprisoned her and most of her family. I’d say she’s justified.”

“Yeah, but even when Kuvira’s telling the truth, she doesn’t listen. I don’t know much about what’s going on, but it doesn’t look like you two are getting along very well.”

“I don’t think I’d be so upset at her if she did something, but Su totally doesn’t care! She won’t listen to Kuvira, she won’t listen to Earth Kingdom officials, she’s been hands-off about the situation the whole time, and she hasn’t been helping at all. It’s like she doesn’t even want Zaofu to be a part of the Earth Kingdom anymore.”

“Opal’s been getting worried too. Says that a lot of the former soldiers in Kuvira’s army that used to be part of Zaofu want to join the new Earth Republic instead.”

Korra’s impressed. “You’ve been paying attention, huh?”

“I don’t want to make another mistake like I did with Kuvira…”

“Honestly, she isn’t as bad as she looks.”

“Oh, I think I see them!” Bolin waves.

Mako and Asami look exhausted.

“Hey, Mako, Asami!” Korra gives them both quick hugs. “What happened?”

They look at each other.

“Train…” Mako says, out of breath. He’s in something a little nicer than his valet uniform—Ba Sing Se clothes, maybe?

“Mako just arrived from Ba Sing Se. I waited for him because I was supposed to drive him here, but there was a huge accident around the station.”

“What?”

“It was something like a three-car pileup.”

“People have been saying it’s the Triple Threats,” Mako says, grimacing.

“In broad daylight? Are you serious?”

“It’s probably cleaned up by now, but there was no way we were going to get our car out of there,” says Asami.

“So you ran,” Korra says.

“Yeah.”

She raises an eyebrow. “In a skirt?”

“I think the seams ripped a bit…” She slips a modest hand over where the tear might have been.

“Well, gang’s all here!” Bolin throws his hands over Korra’s and Asami’s shoulders. “Let’s eat!”

 

“So, how’s work been?” Korra asks Mako over dinner. Hanzo’s is a pretty snazzy place; Wu knows his restaurants well.

“Good. Way better than working for Wu.” Mako keeps his eyes on his food. “We’ve been pushing them back for a couple weeks now. It’s good to be back on the beat.”

“In Ba Sing Se, though? Isn’t that hard?”

“It’s not as organized as Republic City, since the city’s so old—but it’s not as bad as it looks. Everything goes around in a circle because of the way the city is built.” He gestures with his chopsticks. “That limits the number of streets. Memorizing the alleyways is tough, though. Sometimes it feels like a maze.”

“And it’s perfect for getaways,” says Asami. “It must be easy to just vanish into an alleyway.”

Mako smiles. “Yeah, tell me about it. Kai has the streets memorized, at least—he’s not interested in doing police work, though.”

“And how’s reconstruction going?” Asami asks.

“Not bad,” Korra and Mako say at the same time.

She laughs awkwardly. “Sorry, I’m there all the time because of Wu and the new constitution and everything. Mako’s on the ground more, I’m sure.”

“I think Varrick’s been winning contracts there, recently.” He eyes Asami. “Says that he’s been getting pushed out of Republic City by a certain someone…”

“I like the sound of that, and at the same time I don’t like the sound of that,” Korra says. “Ba Sing Se isn’t exactly known for its squeaky clean politics.”

“She’s right. BSSPD was getting paid off by all kinds of crooks—a lot of them associated with Earth Kingdom officials. Kuvira cleaned them up.”

Asami raises an eyebrow. “Kuvira did?” She glances at Bolin, who shrugs.

“Kuvira oversaw nearly every part of Earth Empire administration. That’s… kind of what dictators do.”

“Her men are good—well-trained, disciplined. They’re like the guys at Zaofu. Whatever secret methods Suyin’s been hiding are all out there in the open now.”

“Or it’s possible Kuvira came up with them herself,” says Korra.

“That could be it, too. Hey,” Mako looks at her, “have you talked to her since then?”

Korra nods. Asami shrinks back into her seat.

“I did.”

“What’d she say?” Bolin asks.

“She said… Nothing all that surprising, actually. She said that she was inspired to quell the unrest in the Earth Kingdom by Su.”

Bolin cringes. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Korra continues, “she thought that if she conquered the Earth Kingdom, she’d have a shot at making the rest of it look more like Zaofu.”

“And you believe her?” Asami asks.

“She doesn’t have any reason to lie to me now.”

“It’s a pretty incredible place, granted,” says Mako. “But how? What was she expecting to do?”

“You saw what she did. She cleaned up everything—all of it. She built new roads and factories, she organized the military…”

“Got rid of weak links…” Bolin mutters quietly.

“And she got the Earth Kingdom to a state that it had never been in before. What Wu’s suggesting only became possible because of Kuvira’s improvements.”

“But she tried to take over the United Republic,” Asami says. “That doesn’t have anything to do with the Earth Kingdom.”

“She said it was a mistake.”

She glowers. “Sure it was.”

“And the re-education camps?” Bolin asks. “Those were prisons where she put people that she didn’t like.”

“Hey, I never said she was perfect.”

“It’s a mixed bag,” says Mako. “Point is, she’s in jail now, and given the fact that she turned herself in, I doubt she’ll try to break out anytime soon.”

Korra steals a glance as Asami. She looks sullen, and it’s not an unusual expression to see on her.

“So, Bolin. I know I see you around at Zaofu, sometimes,” says Korra, “but what have you been doing, exactly…?”

“You haven’t heard? I’m on the radio now!”

Asami groans.

“What? Really?” Korra looks at Mako.

“Really, Bro? You never told me this.”

“Yeah, well, I was kind of…” he pokes his pointer fingers together, “bumming around at Opal’s place for a while, but Varrick set me up with this sweet gig!”

Mako slams his hands on the table. “Bolin!”

He waves his hands. “He’s a changed man, Mako, I swear! All I’m doing are radio plays as Nuktuk.”

“Did you know about this, Asami?” asks Korra.

“A little bit,” she waves her hand, “here and there. Word travels fast in the entertainment industry, and I’m friendly with enough people to have heard about it.”

“Varrick?” says Mako. “Seriously?”

“I spoke to Zhu Li about it personally,” Bolin says. “She swears up and down that he’s changed.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Asami says, spitefully. “I bet he had nothing to do with that attack outside the train station.”

“I thought he was in Ba Sing Se, now,” says Korra.

“Yeah, but he’s still headquartered in Republic City.”

“We won’t know for sure until the police department gets to it, though,” says Mako.

Bolin whistles. “Man, Asami, you’ve had a pretty tough time of it, huh?”

“No thanks to you,” she seethes.

Well, that went great.

“Opal’s been doing pretty good work out there, though,” Korra says, hoping no one notices the strain in her voice.

“Yeah, totally! She’s great with kids; Ikki and the others love her,” Bolin gushes. “Korra even came along to teach a class, too.”

_Don’t tell me this is going where I think it’s going—_

“Yeah,” Korra laughs nervously. “It was great. I think even I learned some new bending moves teaching the kids.”

“Oh, and,” Bolin looks at Korra, “we were thinking about taking a vacation together—”

Asami shoots a _look_ at her.

“Really? Are you? That’s… That’s great. To where?”

“She said she wanted to try going to the Spirit World…”

Oh, no…

“The Spirit World?” Mako smiles quizzically. “Why the Spirit World?”

“Oh, you know, because—”

“Shh!”

“Korra?” Mako asks.

Asami covers her face with her hand.

“Opal and I were keeping that a secret!”

“Huh?” Bolin looks dumbfounded. “What?”

“She didn’t tell you?” And now her mouth is running off on its own, “I was planning to show her around before you guys went; it was supposed to be a secret between the three of us…”

Asami is kneading her temples.

“Really? I thought everyone already knew…”

Mako has to have noticed Asami by now.

“Knew what?” Mako asks. “Why is everyone acting so weird?”

Bolin grins nervously. “Was I not supposed to say that?”

Korra and Asami stare at each other.

“Guys,” says Mako, “what’s going on?”

“Korra and Asami… kind of took a secret vacation into the Spirit World together. That’s all I know,” Bolin says, “I swear. I swear Opal didn’t tell me anything—”

“Wait, what? How come I didn’t hear anything?”

“Mako,” says Asami, and looks at him meaningfully.

“What?”

“I think you’d be the last person to know,” Korra says.

“Why? What’s going on between you two?”

“Oh,” Bolin says, as if he’s finally realized something.

Asami sighs. It’s a huge sigh. “You know, I think everyone already suspects it, so I might as well say it.”

Korra tries to interrupt her. “Asami, wait—”

“I think everyone thinks we’re going out.”

“Asami, we’re not going out!”

“You’re going out?” asks Mako.

“No, we’re not!”

“Why are you saying one thing and she’s saying another?” asks Bolin.

“I know. I heard,” says Asami. “I couldn’t keep it a secret from everyone because—I don’t know why.”

“We both had to take off a huge amount of time,” says Korra. “And… I don’t know who, but someone might have overheard our plans, because Opal definitely knew about it. Did she tell you, Bolin?”

“Actually…” He looks away. “I heard it from Lin.”

“Lin?” Mako looks confused. “Who did Lin hear it from?”

“One of Tenzin’s kids, maybe?” says Korra. “Jinora can enter the Spirit World.”

“Bumi can understand spirits, too,” says Asami.

“Was it the spirits?”

They look at each other again.

“I’m so confused,” Asami mutters. “Why would Lin gossip?”

“I didn’t know about it until she told me that Asami and Korra had been gone for a few days,” says Bolin. “She said that they were taking a vacation in the Spirit World, or something. In those exact words.”

“So it was that obvious,” says Korra.

“Well, the Avatar and the owner of Future Industries can’t just disappear for a week and have no one notice,” says Asami.

“I only heard about it from Opal, though! And that was way later!”

“They were probably trying to give us some privacy.”

Mako still looks dumbfounded. “You two are together?”

“We’re not together!” Korra insists. “And definitely not after that trip.”

“What happened?”

Korra groans. “Not again…”

“It wasn’t… a positive experience; let’s just leave it at that,” says Asami.

Mako points. “Have you two always…?”

“No, we haven’t,” Korra says again.

He’s been stooping and frowning for a while by now. “Did I make a mistake with you two? Are you two…?”

“I’m not gay,” Korra seethes.

Asami raises her eyebrows at her.

“And Asami is?”

“She…”

“I’m bisexual,” she explains, matter-of-factly. “You didn’t make a mistake.”

“Oh.” He looks so lost. “Then…” He points at Korra.

“I just told you, I’m not gay.”

“Are you bi?”

“I—” she doesn’t know why she can’t say no, “nngh! Does it really matter if I am or not?”

He looks down. “I guess not.”

She instantly feels guilty. “Look, Mako… You screwed up, all right? I… I really screwed up too. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m sorry. About everything.”

“I know. You guys, whatever it is, you don’t have to worry about me.” His expression is unreadable. “Really.”

Bolin looks at him. “Bro…”

Korra suddenly notices the presence of three new people at the table: Wu, surrounded by two bodyguards even taller and more intimidating than Mako.

“Hey, guys.” He grins unctuously, stands ramrod straight. “Was I too late?”

 

Bolin is the first to leave, followed by Wu, then Mako. Asami graciously agrees to take him to his hotel—she’s supposed to take Korra back as well, but she can’t even look at him, let alone get into the same car as him. She waits, and it’s the longest wait in the world. She wants to jump into the river and drown herself. Any Avatar would be better than her.

Asami pulls by up the curb. She pats the passenger’s seat. “C’mon. Let’s take you home.” Her expression betrays nothing.

Korra stares at the seat for a while.

“We don’t have to talk about this now, you know.”

“I know.” She keeps staring at the seat.

Asami looks down. “Was I being too… I didn’t even realize you talked to Opal about it.”

“Yeah,” Korra says. She looks behind her, at the restaurant. “You know what? Let’s talk about this somewhere else.” She hops into the car.

Asami drives at a slower speed than usual. Republic City is sleepy, for a Friday evening. Korra is quiet and nervous and shy; she steals glances at Asami, but Asami has her eyes on the road.

“Are you taking me back home?” Korra asks.

“Wherever you want to go,” she says, in her usual flat tone. “It’s your call.”

She wants to go someplace private, but there’s only one place she can think of.

“Why don’t we stop by your place, first.”

She’s quiet. “Are you sure?”

“You’re always busy. I don’t know when we’ll have a chance to talk again—and I don’t want to have any more awkward encounters like that. I don’t want to have to keep giving people mixed messages. That’s just… wrong.”

“Well, all right,” she says, but she sounds uncertain. “I guess we're turning around, then.”

 

There is nothing surprising about Asami’s apartment: it’s modern, well-lit, small, and clean, and that’s the easiest way to tell that she’s never actually in here. This is her first time seeing the place; it’s tidier than her office, and there’s a separate bedroom across from the front door.

“Make yourself at home,” Asami says, leaving her keys on the counter. “I’ll make you some tea.”

Korra sits on the sofa. There’s a radio and a cabinet full of fancy china that she’s pretty sure Asami has never taken out before. She eyes her family photo in a picture frame, and her insides twist with guilt. She can’t relax; it feels like her mind is bursting at the seams. If she stays too late, she’ll take a taxi. She can’t stay overnight—she wouldn’t be able to sleep, anyway.

Asami sets a tray with the teapot and cups onto the coffee table and sits across from her in an overstuffed armchair. She feels too far away, but Korra can’t decide which is more awkward: being too close, or being too far.

“What’s on your mind?”

Korra pours herself some tea, blows on it. “Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out,” she says, evasively.

“What did Kuvira tell you?”

“About all of her plans. About how she wanted to make the world look more like Zaofu, about how Su didn’t want to do anything about it, so she decided to take matters into her own hands,” Korra says. Her thoughts are piecemeal; she keeps thinking about stupid things, like _what if the tea is drugged, what if I end up staying the night, what if, what if, what if_. Maybe it was a stupid decision to hold the conversation here, but she’s afraid that someone will overhear them. She doesn’t want to make things any harder for Asami; she doesn’t have the same kind of protection that Korra does. Asami has to earn her respect. To some extent, the Avatar doesn’t.

“She really didn’t care about the people she hurt.”

“She wasn’t even thinking about them.” The tea is bright, foamy green, bitter and intense. “She lost and she’s going to be in jail for the rest of her life, and that’s pretty much it.”

“You’re not going to pardon her?”

“The only place I could see her fitting in is Zaofu, and I don’t think that’s going to work out, exactly,” she says.

“It’s funny,” Asami laughs dryly, “you think seeing her get punished would do something for me, but it doesn’t change anything. It won’t bring my father back. Letting the Equalists win wouldn’t have brought my mother back, either.”

“But you wouldn’t forgive her, either.”

“I can’t.” She stares at the ground, hard. “I hate hearing about how much _good_ she’s done for the Earth Kingdom. It’s like you’re praising her.”

“I’m not praising her. I’m just stating the facts. I don’t like her either, Asami, but I think we could learn something from her.”

“I can’t believe someone like her—or someone like Zaheer—is still allowed to live, and my father isn’t. His body was crushed. They had to cremate him; all I have left of him is an urn.”

“Would you rather they have her executed, then?”

“I don’t see how that would help.”

“Then… Do you want an apology?”

“I don’t want to see her.”

She might as well be talking to a wall.

“Are you OK with me talking to her?”

“I’m not going to stop you, Korra. If it helps the Earth Kingdom, then go ahead. I’m not going to try to get in the way of an entire country.”

“Asami…” Korra puts her teacup down. “You’re not giving me much to work with, here.”

“I said we didn’t have to talk about it now.”

“Yeah, but if you’re not ready, don’t push yourself! If you want me to leave—”

“I’m not asking you to leave.”

“I know, but—”

“It’s your choice.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“No.” She looks at her. “But it doesn’t seem like we’re getting anywhere, either. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I’ll stop hitting on you.”

That’s too easy. “I think that would just make it more awkward, actually.” She blinks. “Um… Do you have feelings for me?”

“I could try.”

“That’s not…” What kind of answer is that? “Is that a yes or a no?”

“I like you. I’m just not sure how. I’m not a sentimental person—I’m not very good with these things. I’m sure you don’t even think of me that way, so…”

That’s because she’s had to stop herself from thinking those thoughts. Korra looks at her now, and she’s not pretty; she’s Asami, vulnerable and depressed. She doesn’t feel the same way around her she once did around Mako—no nervousness, no excitement. They’ve known each other for so long, and every time the thought even passes through her head, it feels wrong, like she’s betraying them and their friendship. She feels insincere. She feels like she doesn’t even know herself, and she’s scared to find out if it turns out that everything that was wrong about them was actually right. Words like “fate” and “destiny” flit briefly through her head. She imagines them doing things together, and it scares her.

Opal’s right; it’s not the end of the world if she turns her down. It’s not like it’s a permanent decision, either. She can always change her mind. Though, it doesn’t solve anything, either. She’s not sure if it would solve anything if she did all of a sudden decide to be Asami’s girlfriend; she’d never envisioned herself getting a girlfriend, still doesn’t know how she feels about it, still hates the fact that she couldn’t deny it to Mako outright. She cares about Asami a lot. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that she loves her.

Korra sighs and leans back on the couch. “Have you imagined it before?”

“Of course I have. Otherwise I wouldn’t be hitting on you.”

“But really imagined it—like, what we would do together. How it would even work out.”

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“But why?”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re friends!”

“Yeah, so? You didn’t have any trouble switching from Mako being your boyfriend to him being your friend-friend.”

“Wrong! We’re still awkward around one another.”

“But you still talk to him. You still care about him.”

“Of course I do.”

“Even if it turns out that he’s not the person you’ll be spending the rest of your life with, you haven’t stopped talking to him forever.”

“Your point?”

“I feel the same way about you.”

“Why? Just because?”

“I think you can only ask that question so many times. There are a lot of answers. I doubt any of them would satisfy you.”

Korra folds her arms. “It’s not fair. Even if I were—unconsciously into you, somehow, I don’t think I’d be able to tell.”

“You could try anyway.”

“I’m not trying if I’m not positive! I don’t magically have feelings I can just pull out of nowhere; I can’t give you whatever you want. I’d love to, Asami; I want to, if it makes you feel better, but I’m not going to lie to myself, either.”

She puts her hand up. “I get it. You’re turning me down.”

“But I don’t want to!” She stands up. “That’s what’s making this so frustrating. I keep digging, hoping I’ll find… something, you know? I’m not really sure, myself.” She slumps. “I want to help you, but I don’t… I don’t want to…” Crap. She presses her palm to her forehead. “I really don’t want to think I’m queer.”

Asami sits up. “Oh.”

“I think,” she tenses up “I—maybe—but I really don’t want to be.”

“That isn’t really something you choose,” Asami says slowly.

Korra’s shoulders are tense. “I know! I know; it’s stupid!”

“It’s not stupid.”

“If I am, I should just… get over it, right? There are plenty of people who are like that—like you. I shouldn’t be having so much trouble with it. Nobody would even care! It doesn’t get in the way of my work; it doesn’t get in the way of your work; and anyone who’s stupid enough to say otherwise would just get ignored. I need to suck it up and deal with it and I…” Tears form in her eyes. “Who cares?”

Asami stands up, a little away from her. “Korra, no…”

“And you—you just lost your dad; you don’t even have parents anymore; it’s stupid, is what it is. I should…” She scrubs her face. “I should be OK with it.”

“But you’re obviously not.” Her brow creases.

“But I should be.” She sniffs. It’s embarrassing, but at least the only person seeing this is Asami.

She smiles wryly. “You don’t have to be OK with it right away.”

“Compared to what you have to deal with, though…”

“They’re not comparable. Don’t try.” Asami rubs her back. Her nose is stuffed and her throat is swollen, and the motions are comforting.

Korra sits, and Asami sits beside her.

“You weren’t supposed to be the one doing the comforting,” she says sourly.

“I think I’m a little better-equipped to handle this than you are, though.”

“It’s not fair. You can do anything.”

“That’s not true.”

“Fine—you can do anything that actually matters.”

“That isn’t true either.”

“Stop trying to make me feel better, Asami.”

“No.”

Korra leans over and covers her face with her hands.

“How did you deal with it?”

“I talk to a lot of people, Korra. You meet the right ones eventually.”

“I hate this.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

She takes her hands off her face. “I’m not ready for this.”

“No one ever is.”

Korra turns to her and stares. Asami smiles, a little too hopefully. Seconds turn into minutes.

Korra looks away. “I’m sorry. I’m really not ready for this.”

“That’s all right. Take your time.”

She stands up, panicked. “Maybe I should just go.”

“W-wait, that’s a little too sudden…” Asami stands up after her.

Her hand is on the knob. “No, I should really go, it’s already getting late…”

“Korra, it’s only eight o’clock.”

She’s turning the knob. “I’m sorry; I’ll make it up to you next time—”

“You don’t even have your shoes on.”

Her heart is pounding. “Asami, I really need to get out of—”

“Korra, wait.” Her hand is like a vice on Korra’s forearm.

Korra looks at her—looks up at her. She curses their height difference; it reminds her of their age difference, and she’s never liked that, either.

“Do you remember five weeks ago? When I tried to run away from you after we talked in my office?”

“Yeah,” she says, faintly, trying to wriggle out of Asami’s grip.

“Do you really want a repeat of that?”

“Maybe?” Asami knows like ten different types of non-bending martial arts; Korra can’t seem to remember any that might help her right now.

“Korra.” Her tone is reprimanding.

“You’re not the boss of me!” she says. She’s so confused; what are they arguing about again?

She sighs and lets go. “At least let me pay for your taxi. You don’t carry a lot of money on you, do you?”

She’s right. Korra waits nervously by the door.

“Here.” Asami holds out her hand, with the cash in it. “This should be enough.”

Her instincts are contradictory—one part of her wants to stay, the other part wants to leave and never turn back.

She really wants Asami to make the decision for her.

Something is telling her that Asami is thinking the exact opposite.

She holds her hand out to accept the cash, and Asami presses it into her palm. They stay there, like that, for a while. Korra feels stupid. Her fingers curl up around the bills.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah.” Asami’s gaze falls from her face onto the ground. “See you later.”

“Yeah.” She turns around. Her legs feel like lead. Is it really only eight o’ clock?

Asami is really polite, huh.

Too polite.

“Korra.”

“What.”

“You’re standing in the doorway.”

“Oh.” She looks down. “Sorry.”

“If you’re not leaving, then come back inside.”

Korra steps back in. Asami reaches over and pulls the door closed behind her, and her touch is electric. Korra pockets the cash automatically.

“So,” she says. “Now what?”

“You wanna listen to the radio?”

 

Asami is reading the newspaper in one of her armchairs. Korra is lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling. They’re listening to one of the Nuktuk radio plays. It’s weird to hear Bolin’s voice over the radio, reading out canned lines. Then again, Nuktuk was never meant to be highbrow entertainment. In between sections of the play are advertisements, and Korra hears herself in one of them, and Future Industries in another. She feels exhausted. She knows—they know—that there’s nothing left to say and now they’re not saying anything.

Korra glances over at her. Asami isn’t looking at her, but she’s aware of her; she can practically feel it. There’s no way they’re not going out after this.

“So, Asami—”

She drops the papers she was holding. “Korra?” She looks bewildered.

“Sorry.”

She glances away from her. “You scared me half to death.”

“Are we going out?”

“I don’t know. Are we?”

“I guess we are,” Korra says. She blinks.

“OK,” says Asami.

They look at each other.

“So, do we, like…”

“If you want to.”

Korra stares frustratedly at something—at Asami’s keys on the counter.

“Do you?” Asami asks.

“Do you?”

“Well…” She hesitates. “Yes, I do.” Asami is way ahead of her, then. “But I won’t, if you don’t want to.”

There is something wrong with this picture and Korra doesn’t know what it is. Her hands shake a little. “Just do it.”

“Korra,” she raises an eyebrow, “I’m not going to kiss you if you’re going to be so nervous about it.”

“What am I supposed to do? You’re one of my closest friends. It’s weird!”

“Yeah, but I’m not going to…”

“Well, if you’re not going to do it then I’m going to do it.” She gets up off the couch.

She laughs in surprise. “Wait, you don’t _have_ to.”

“Well, I’m going to.”

Asami stands up and leers at her. “All right.”

Korra takes a deep breath, and puts her hands on Asami’s shoulders. She gulps. Then she feels Asami’s arms moving beneath her hands, sliding them off her shoulders and onto her waist.

She leans down, and kisses her, and Korra is in the taxi, and almost forgets to pay the driver, and comes home late, and doesn’t remember what excuse she gave Tenzin, and goes straight to bed.

She doesn’t get any sleep, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter left! Not sure when I'll get around to it, but it's not quite over yet.


End file.
